Pride 33 (Vegas) Thread...

[LEONARD]

what the hell...may as well start one to track rumors, etc...

PRIDE 33 (2ND USA SHOW): FEBRUARY 24, 2007 IN LAS VEGAS

-Wanderlei Silva (#3 Light Heavyweight in the World)* vs. TBA (possibly Dan Henderson)
-Takanori Gomi (#1 Lightweight)* vs. TBA
-Hayato Sakurai (#2 Lightweight)* vs. TBA
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (#3 Heavyweight)* vs. TBA
-Ricardo Arona (#4 Light Heavyweight)* vs. TBA
-Kazuo Misaki (#4 Middleweight)* vs. TBA
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (#5 Light Heavyweight)* vs. TBA
-Dan Henderson (#6 Middleweight)* vs. TBA (possibly Wanderlei Silva)
-Kazuhiro Nakamura (#9 Light Heavyweight)* vs. TBA
-Kazuyuki Fujita vs. TBA
-Cung Le vs. TBA

The latest is that Wand will have a title fight with little Nog though... :fro

http://www.tatame.com/news/

I hope it's true...awesome matchup! :fro

[cornbread]

Ah shit, Cung Le!!! I'll watch this event just to see him fight. Chances are that he'll be facing some stiff competition, atleast from the way this list looks.

[LEONARD]

Well it looks like the LHW title fight will be between the LHW champ and the MW champ afterall... :dizzy

Wand vs Henderson I was a war, so I'd expect the same from this fight...

They got the American vs non-American that they wanted. I wish they'd just make the matchups and stop trying to cater to the American fan...

I'd have rather seen Wand vs Little Nog, or even Wand vs Arona...

[Mr Dio]

Ah shit, Cung Le!!! I'll watch this event just to see him fight.

Yeah, I hear ya on that.

===
===

Chances are that he'll be facing some stiff competition, atleast from the way this list looks.

We'll see.
They def need to throw someone pretty good at him or IMO he could make relatively quick work of them.

[LEONARD]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/articlefiles/3245-pride33_hendo.jpg

[IX_Equilibrium]

Dan Henderson

[LEONARD]

Good stuff...looks like Dan is about done with Pride after 2007 maybe??

[IX_Equilibrium]

Good stuff...looks like Dan is about done with Pride after 2007 maybe??


Who knows with Dan.... I didn't think he would stay in the fight game this long. I remember him saying in an interview about 4 years ago that he was getting serious into construction business and not be fighting much longer. Of course, you can make much more as a fighter now than you did back then.

[LEONARD]

Here's a new Fedor interview from worthless "Sherpuppy"...

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=493010

His fight with Jeff Monson for Bodogfight has been moved back to April, but I haven't seen any rumors of Fedor fighting on the Pride 33 card now. He did sign an extension with Pride though, so he's not going anywhere...

[Mr Dio]

Here's a new Fedor interview from worthless "Sherpuppy"...

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=493010

His fight with Jeff Monson for Bodogfight has been moved back to April, but I haven't seen any rumors of Fedor fighting on the Pride 33 card now. He did sign an extension with Pride though, so he's not going anywhere...




Wow, so you think it is totally worthless.
Must be all those pride and wrestling groupies that are ruining, or have ruined a good site. :smokin

[Mr Dio]

:lol

[LEONARD]

Wow, so you think it is totally worthless.
Must be all those pride and wrestling groupies that are ruining, or have ruined a good site. :smokin

Sarcasm much?

Yes, worthless interview that somebody took from Russia, translated, and posted on Sherdog. I mean damn...you can get that anywhere right? :lol

[Mr Dio]

Sarcasm much?

Yes, worthless interview that somebody took from Russia, translated, and posted on Sherdog. I mean damn...you can get that anywhere right? :lol


Now you're waffling, again. :smokin

[LEONARD]

Now you're waffling, again. :smokin

Explain to me how I'm waffling exactly?? :dizzy

[Mr Dio]

Explain to me how I'm waffling exactly?? :dizzy


Geez, U R soooo confused.
Take your meds son.

[LEONARD]

Geez, U R soooo confused.
Take your meds son.

Right...good one...

[Mr Dio]

Right...good one...


I know. :smokin

[LEONARD]

Big Nog will be there, but only to support his brother...

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=497755

The rumor was that Pride wanted Aleks vs Nog but Aleks said he didn't have time to prepare for a fight with Nog...

[LEONARD]

Latest...

Nick Diaz signed a 2 fight deal with Pride and will face Gomi at 160 lbs :ihit

Give me Gomi by violent KO...

Here's a cool Gomi HL...(scroll down some)
http://mma.tv/tuf/index.cfm?ac=ListMessages&PID=3&TID=970927&FID=1&pc=52

Also Mac Danzig signed and will fight Sakurai...

http://www.mmaontap.com/mma/entry/danzig-vs-sakurai-diaz-vs-gomi-at-pride-33/

Huge test for Nick...he's a gamer, but I think he's going to get KTFO...

Mac Danzig is a nice signing...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0BAWOiiKKV8

[LEONARD]

Rumors....

Arona vs Nakamura
Sergei Vs. Yvel
Shogun vs Overeem
Robbie Lawler vs Cung Le (fight was offered, but he has another match that he'd have to cancel)

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=498840

Also, regarding Nick Diaz...this is from TJ DeSantis from Beatdown Radio:
"When PRIDE does shows in America they have to follow the unified rules. The NSAC rules are 160 is in the welterweight division. So I would assume he would stay at 170"

Have to see if he's right or not...or if there is something in Nick's contract that forces him to fight at a catch weight of 160...

[LEONARD]

Confirmed fights...
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=6585

Gomi (#1 LW) vs Nick Diaz (#9 WW)...Diaz signed a 2 fight deal with Pride. This will be his first fight at 160 lbs

Mac Danzig from KOTC will fight Sakurai (#2 LW)
Frank Trigg vs Misaki (#4 MW)
Nakamura (#9 LHW) vs Travis Wiuff

Others announced but not matched up...

-Ricardo Arona (#4 Light Heavyweight)* vs. TBA
-Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (#5 Light Heavyweight)* vs. TBA
-Kazuyuki Fujita vs. TBA
-Cung Le vs. TBA
-Wes Sims vs. TBA

Shogun vs Overeem info
http://www.graciemag.com/?c=144&a=6249

[LEONARD]

Aleks Emelianenko is listed as a fighter on Pride's sight...maybe against Fujita? Hmmm...

[LEONARD]

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs Little Nog has been rumor'd (not confirmed by Pride)

http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=3142

and Sergei Vs. Yvel has been confirmed...

[LEONARD]

Shogun vs Overeem confirmed...

Should be a great fight. Their first fight was before Overeem gas'd...

That gives us this so far...

-Wanderlei Silva (#3 LHW) vs. Dan Henderson (#6 MW)
-Takanori Gomi (#1 LW) vs. Nick Diaz (#9 WW)
-Hayato Sakurai (#2 LW) vs. Mac Danzig (from KOTC)
-Kazuo Misaki (#4 MW) vs. Frank Trigg
-Kazuhiro Nakamura (#9 LHW) vs. Travis Wiuff
-Little Nog (#5 LHW) vs. Rameau Sokoudjou (Team Quest)
-Shogun (#2 LHW) vs Overeem (#10 LHW)
-Sergei Kharitonov (#10 HW) vs Gilbert Yvel

leaving
-Kazuyuki Fujita vs. TBA
-Cung Le vs. TBA
-Wes Sims vs. TBA

Sims vs Fujita?
Cung Le vs Lawler?

[LEONARD]

fromm Graciefighter.com...

We spoke to Nick Diaz on his upcoming encounter with current lightweight Pride Champion, Takanori Gomi. The 23 year old did not refrain from expressing his thoughts:

"I don't think he has anything to offer that I haven't seen before. I think I've fought tougher guys than him. The guys I've fought hit harder, were better wrestlers and better grapplers. What does he think he'll be able to do to me? I'm not intimidated at all and if he thinks he can knock me out that's fine. I think he'll be the one getting an ass beating so I hope he's ready." - Diaz

Gomi by KO... :fro

[MajorMike]

Are Pride and MMA or UFC or whatever the same thing? Or is this just like the 9 different belts for the same class in boxing?

[LEONARD]

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the sports...

There are many org's or leagues...the main 2 are:

UFC - being the biggest in the US

Pride Fighting Championship (Pride FC) - being the biggest in Japan (now making it's way to the US)

Pride and UFC have their own champs at each weight class, except for 170 lbs because Pride doesn't have that division (difference mainly due to the system used, ie lbs vs kgs)

Others like:

Internaitonal Fighting League (IFL) being a new US league that's built on a team system. Fights air on FSN...

WEC (which was bought by the UFC owners and is now kind of like the UFC minor league). Fights used to air on HDNet, but are now going to Vs (used to OLN)...

Bodog's owner started BodogFight in 2006 and it's landed some big fighters for this year. Started online last year with 1 PPV and will have PPV's this year...

Exite Extreme Combat (Elite XC) is a new org that will be on Showtime this year...first card is this Saturday. (UFC will have 3 or 4 cards on HBO also)

and there are dozens and dozens of smaller org's that aren't on TV...

[LEONARD]

-Joachim Hansen (#7 LW) vs. Jason Ireland added...

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3391

[LEONARD]

http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/imgs/top/pride33_fightcard.jpg

[LEONARD]

Pride 33 bio videos for Wand and Dan Henderson...

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=511476

[LEONARD]

Josh Barnett will be in the booth in the place of Trigg since he's fighting on this card... :fro

http://www.pridefc.com/pride2005/index.php?mainpage=news&news_id=1001

[LEONARD]

-Wanderlei Silva (#3 LHW) vs. Dan Henderson (#6 MW)
-Takanori Gomi (#1 LW) vs. Nick Diaz (#9 WW)
-Shogun (#2 LHW) vs Overeem (#10 LHW)
-Hayato Sakurai (#2 LW) vs. Mac Danzig (from KOTC)
-Kazuo Misaki (#4 MW) vs. Frank Trigg
-Kazuhiro Nakamura (#9 LHW) vs. Travis Wiuff
-Little Nog (#5 LHW) vs. Rameau Sokoudjou (Team Quest)
-Sergei Kharitonov (#10 HW) vs Gilbert Yvel
-Joachim Hansen (#7 LW) vs. Jason Ireland
-Sergei Kharitonov (#10 HW) vs. Gilbert Yvel (dependent on NSAC granting Yvel a license, which is questionable due to Yvel's previous assault of a referee)

-Kazuyuki Fujita vs. TBA

Cung Le and Wes Sims have been removed from the "TBA" list...

I'm starting to kick myself for not going to this one... :bang

13/20 fighters in the top 10...with 6 of them going head to head with other top 10's (2 cross-weight class). I like a lot of the matchups. I think Nog and Hansen will have easy fights and Nak-Wiuff could be fairly boring, but otherwise I think we'll have some excellent fights...

I really hope Sergei gets to fight...

[LEONARD]

Yvel rejected...
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3447

Hopefully they can match Sergei up with somebody...

[cornbread]

^^^That's disappointing. This could have been a very exciting match. Who could they throw at Sergei at this point???

[LEONARD]

Fujita is the only HW that was rumor'd to be on the card with no matchup...I'd be fine with that...

Paul Buentello is rumor'd too...

[cornbread]

I would love to see Buentello mix it up with Sergei.

Here's the story on the suspension of Yvel and a few others.


Friday, February 16, 2007
by Sherdog.com Staff

The Nevada State Athletic Commission Friday morning revoked, denied and suspended the licenses of several mixed martial artists, NSAC chairman Keith Kizer confirmed to Sherdog.com.

Kevin Randleman (Pictures) had his license pulled as a result of a dubious urinalysis following his loss to Mauricio Rua (Pictures) in PRIDE. The former UFC heavyweight champion, recently in the hospital with kidney troubles, provided a sample free of human hormones, which the NSAC took as Randleman providing a fake sample. For this his license was revoked. Randleman can reapply for a license any time after Oct. 21, 2007.

Dutch heavyweight Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) was denied a license to fight because of what Kizer called "inexcusable behavior" stemming for an incident in 2004 in which Yvel struck a referee in the ring. Had the the veteran fighter been granted a license, he would have likely fought on next week's PRIDE card in Las Vegas.

The NSAC handed down its fifth suspension for diuretics when welterweight Thiago Alves (Pictures) was given an eight-month penalty, the standard suspension for a positive test of this kind. Alves' suspension comes after he fought on a Dec. 30, 2006 UFC card.

Also, the commission temporarily suspended Joe Pearson (Pictures) and Kit Cope (Pictures), both losers in WEC title fights on Jan. 20, after each tested positive for banned substances.

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=6780

[Mr Dio]

:sleep

[LEONARD]

I would love to see Buentello mix it up with Sergei.

Here's the story on the suspension of Yvel and a few others.

That would definitely be entertaining...

I think Randleman is done...a yr suspension at his age with all of his health problems?? Has anybody fought tougher competition in their career than Randleman??

Loss Shogun
Loss Kazuhiro Nakamura
Loss Mirko Filipovic
Loss Ron Waterman
Loss Fedor Emelianenko
Win Mirko Filipovic
Loss Kazushi Sakuraba
Loss Quinton Jackson
Win Murilo Rua
Win Renato Sobral
Loss Chuck Liddell
Loss Randy Couture
Win Pedro Rizzo
Win Pete Williams
Loss Bas Rutten
Win Maurice Smith

He certainly doesn't back down from tough matchups...

Preview by Stephen Quadros...
http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/pages.php?pageid=88

[LEONARD]

Countdown to Pride 33...

Part 1
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650224734443920310
Part 2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6854830279272759916
Part 3
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5840399433674447244

and rumor is that Sergei's opponent will be "Warpath"...
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=8310

he sucks, but he'll take a fight on short notice, and he'll take a beating. Oh well, it's better than Sergei not getting to fight I suppose...

Trigg will go to the booth after his fight...
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3457

What if he's too busted up to talk? I'm curious to see how Joshi Barnetto does...

[IX_Equilibrium]

Warpath?

Oh Lord, that guy???

[LEONARD]

Damn...I won 4 tickets to Pride 33...can I figure out a way to get there??? hmmmmmmmm

Wand and Hendo on Beatdown Radio...
http://www.sherdog.com/news/radio.asp?id=135

And Sergei vs Warpath is off...so only 8 fights now...

The NSAC really fucks Pride around big-time...

[LEONARD]

I plugged in some different combo's at UNLVTickets.com and it doesn't look like it's going too well. Keep in mind, these are for groups of tickets together, not just scattered in that price range...

Tried 1 ticket ($67 - corner balccony) - yes
Tried 2 tickets ($67) - no

Tried 1 tickets ($147 - balcony) - yes
Tried 2 tickets ($147) - yes
Tried 4 tickets ($147) - yes
Tried 8 tickets ($147) - yes
Tried 12 tickets ($147) - yes
Tried 20 tickets ($147) - no

Tried 2 tickets ($347 - corner/end plaza) - yes
Tried 4 tickets ($347) - yes
Tried 8 tickets ($347) - yes
Tried 12 tickets ($347) - yes
Tried 20 tickets ($347) - yes
Tried 30 tickets ($347) - yes
Tried 40 tickets ($347) - no

Tried 1 ticket ($697 - courtside/center plaza) - yes
Tried 2 tickets ($697) - yes
Tried 4 tickets ($697) - yes
Tried 8 tickets ($697) - yes
Tried 12 tickets ($697) - yes
Tried 20 tickets ($697) - no

Tried 1 ticket ($697 - floor) - no

It's ashame that Pride US isn't doing much to market their events. I think this will be the last Pride US event even though 2 more are already scheduled.

I'd like to attend more events, so it would suck if that were the case. However, from a pure fighting aspect I'd rather see them fight in Japan with full rules. It's really watered down too much when they fight here. I really don't like the idea of title fights here without Pride rules...

I guess we'll see what happens...

For now, I can't wait for this weekend's PPV...

[LEONARD]

Kazuhiro Nakamura vs Travis Wiuff off due to an injury for Nak. Hopefully they can find a fill-in for Travis for a ninth fight at least...

and Sergei is on, against this guy...
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=20552

Well, at least Sergei will gain some new fans with a HL reel KO of that guy. How is it that the NSAC refected Fujita vs Wes Simms, but allows Sergei to fight this dude???

[IX_Equilibrium]

So are you going or not, Leonard?

[desflood]

Take my husband with you. Get him out of my hair for a day or two :lol

[LEONARD]

LOL...

Nah, too much $hit going on right now...I'll be PPV'ing it...

[LEONARD]

Looks like we get a ninth fight afterall...

James Lee will take Nak's spot at the last minute...
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=6796
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=3479

Trigg video interview
http://www.sherdog.com/videos/videos.asp?v_id=1086

Gomi - Diaz promo video...Gomi didn't do much at his public training session yesterday. Rumor is that he has a broken finger but will still fight.
http://www.prideofficial.com/events/pride33/special/

[cornbread]

If Trigg beats Misaki is does that mean Trigg is "back"? Coming off the victory over Mayhem, this would be huge for him.

[LEONARD]

I think so...Misaki is no joke, although his "WW Grand Prix" title from 2006 is a little misleading in my opinion. Paul Filho completely dominated him but couldn't continue for the final fight due to his knee injury...so Misaki got to face an injured Kang who would probably win that fight most of the time...